Long thought to have been painted by Caravaggio, this still
life shares his naturalistic arrangement of foodstuffs, placed
close to the front of the picture plane. Here, however, the
painter has used light to soften the forms of ripe fruit—edges
of the highlighted apple on the pewter plate seem to blur and
dissolve. This is characteristic of works painted by an artist
dubbed the Pensionante del Saraceni, literally, the boarder
of Saraceni. Carlo Saraceni was one of the many painters in
Rome who were heavily influenced by Caravaggio.

A slight elevation in viewpoint reduces the formality
of this composition, but it nevertheless evinces the strong
sense of geometry underlying its organization—stronger
than in Saraceni’s or Caravaggio’s own paintings. Notice,
for example, the repetition of round form in the melons,
plates, and swelling wine carafe. This insistent structure,
together with a certain elusive and undefinable “melancholy,”
has suggested to some scholars that the painter was
French. Saraceni was known as a francophile and is documented
as having accommodated at least one French artist
in his house—hence the name Pensionante. Some dozen
paintings are thought to be by the same hand but the
artist’s identity remains unknown.